Continuing a Bleeding Heartland tradition, I am posting Iowa’s absentee ballot numbers, statewide and for each Congressional district, updated every day the Iowa Secretary of State’s office releases new figures.
You can compare this year’s numbers to daily charts from the last seven election cycles by clicking through to Bleeding Heartland’s archive of absentee ballot totals from 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018, 2016, 2014, and 2012. But use caution when comparing, because Iowans could vote early for 40 days through 2016, and for 29 days in 2018 and 2020. Republicans shortened the early voting period to the current 20 days as part of a wide-ranging effort to suppress early voting in 2021.
In addition, many Iowans (especially Democrats) are more wary of voting by mail this year than in the past. That’s partly because President Donald Trump has tried to interfere with U.S. Postal Service delivery of ballots, and partly because the 2021 law required all ballots to arrive at county auditors’ offices by 8:00 pm on election day. (Late-arriving ballots used to be counted if they were postmarked before election day.)
The upshot is that lower totals for mailed ballots do not necessarily reflect less interest in voting early.
Early voting began on October 14 this year, and the first report from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office appeared on October 15. The office changed the format of its daily absentee ballot reports on October 20. Since the new tables are much more comprehensive than previous incarnations, I am posting those below, rather than creating my own tables, as I’ve done in past years.
Here is the Congressional map:
October 23
Ballots cast in the third Congressional district are starting to catch up to the U.S. House districts in eastern Iowa. That’s because Polk County (where the majority of IA-03 residents live) had no satellite voting locations open on October 14-16, but many operating the week of October 19.
Statewide and Congressional early voting numbers pulled by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the morning of October 23 (click the links for totals by county, by state House district, and state Senate district as of that morning).
Totals in IA-01 on the morning of October 23:
Totals in IA-02 on the morning of October 23:
Totals in IA-03 on the morning of October 23:
Totals in IA-04 on the morning of October 23:
October 22
Statewide and Congressional early voting numbers pulled by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the morning of October 22 (click the links for totals by county, by state House district, and state Senate district as of that morning).
Totals in IA-01 on the morning of October 22:
Totals in IA-02 on the morning of October 22:
Totals in IA-03 on the morning of October 22:
Totals in IA-04 on the morning of October 22:
October 21
Statewide and Congressional early voting numbers pulled by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the morning of October 21 (click the links for totals by county, by state House district, and state Senate district as of that morning).
Totals in IA-01 on the morning of October 21:
Totals in IA-02 on the morning of October 21:
Totals in IA-03 on the morning of October 21:
Totals in IA-04 on the morning of October 21:
October 20
Statewide and Congressional early voting numbers pulled by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the morning of October 20 (click the links for totals by county, by state House district, and state Senate district as of that morning).
IA-03 is lagging behind the Congressional districts in eastern Iowa, because Polk County didn’t have any satellite voting locations open until October 19. In contrast, several large counties in eastern Iowa operated satellite voting locations beginning on October 14.
Totals in IA-01 on the morning of October 20:
Totals in IA-02 on the morning of October 20:
Totals in IA-03 on the morning of October 20:
Totals in IA-04 on the morning of October 20:
Note: The Iowa Secretary of State’s office did not update early vote numbers on Monday, October 19.
October 16
Statewide and Congressional early voting numbers pulled by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the morning of October 16 (click the links for totals by county, by state House district, and state Senate district as of that morning). These tables are in the same format the office used in 2022 and 2024.
October 15
Statewide and Congressional early voting numbers pulled by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office on the morning of October 15, reflecting the first day of early voting on October 14. Click the links for totals by county, by state House district, and state Senate district as of that morning. These tables are in the same format the office used in 2022 and 2024.
Top image of voters at the Iowa Memorial Union on October 14 was first published on the Facebook page of the Johnson County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections.